Jo or Bo...

[stuey-san]

I see that a lot of people are more familiar with the Bo than Jo or at least its the staff size that people are taught most commonly, for those that dont know a Bo is about 7 foot and traditionally kiln dried wood, and a Jo is about 4 foot and traditionally left to dry in the sun for 3 months (both are supposed to be Japanese Oak i believe) but in our kobudo classes which are taught within our club as an offshoot of karate, every other sunday for one and a half hours my Sensei chose to teach us the Jo over the Bo because he said that you're more likely to come across a Jo sized weapon in real life, pool cue, broom handle, broken tree branch etc.....i appreciate that a Bo has a longer reach than a Jo, but what does everyone else think? I'm going to choose Jo i know its biased but its what ive been taught and it does make sense that you're going to come across a Jo sized weapon in a real life situation as opposed to a Bo

[tommarker]

where the heck do all of you people live that pool cues are just laying in the street everywhere just waiting to be used as improvised weapons?

[stuey-san]

no, but theyd be waiting to be used in a pub...

[kilo]

I like the Jo but thats probably because I do Shindo Muso Ryu Jo.

[Treebranch]

As a weapon the Bo is brutal. The Jo is cool. But the Bo beat Musashi Miyamoto.

[Rich_2k3]

True.

[stuey-san]

actually it was the jo that beat musashi, it was smaller so gonnusuke could get closer, because musashi beat gonnusuke when gonnusuke's trademark weapon was the bo, and musashi had his two swords, this is the actual story of why the jo was made because gonnusuke found the bo to be too sluggish when up against musashi, so on a return match he fashioned the smaller stick and thus beat musashi, however has musashi had spared gonnusuke's life the first time round, gonnusuke returned the favour

[Shorinryu Sensei]

As far as I've seen, the standard bo is 6' long, not 7'. Where are you buying 7' bo's from?

 

Also, as I understand it. the bo that you use as your personal weapon is supposed to be as tall as you are. Therefore, I technically should be using a 6'6" bo, not the 6 footer I have been using since I started training with it.

 

Hey tommarker..you don't have pool cue's laying all over the ground where you live? Dang, we're tripping over the things around here! lol

 

Although the bo and jo have similar uses, the jo is designed more for close in fighting or in an environment where movement of the weapon is restricted, such as in a home or brushy area, whereas the bo is primarily used for distance fighting where movement isn't restricted.. The bo can however, be used quite effectively in close quarters normally.

[Practice is the key _]

Jo better.

[Treebranch]

The Bo is sluggish? Stuey-San maybe you should study another art that will actually teach how to use a Bo. The Bo will destroy a Jo ever time. The Jo is good for closer quarters.